There was virtually a shortage of funeral cloths in the Sunyani Municipality in January this year, a Ghana News Agency (GNA) market survey has revealed.
Demand for the material is still high among residents in the Municipality as the Sunyani Traditional Council officially begins the ‘Doteyie’ (pre-burial funeral) and internment rites of the late Omanhemaa (paramount queen) of Sunyani Traditional Area, Nana Yaa Nyamaa Poduo II.
The deceased died on Thursday, August 1, 2019, at the Regional Hospital in Sunyani. She was 64.
As a result, traders engaged in wax prints and second-hand clothing in the Sunyani Central Business District (CBD) confirmed they were experiencing brisk businesses.
Many of them said they had imported and stocked their shops with black and red ribbons, funeral clothing and head gears, when the GNA visited their shops on Tuesday.
Madam Joyce Anima, a shop attendant at the Sunyani CBD could not hide her joy, when the GNA sighted mourners in her shop.
She said there was a near a shortage of funeral cloth in the Municipality last month, as the demand for the material soar.
Tailors and dressmakers around the Victoria Park, near the Sunyani Old Palace confirmed they had also been experiencing a field day for some months now.
Meanwhile, the Bono regional capital has been greeted with throbbing traditional music and dirges as hundreds of mourners from all walks of life arrived in the city.
Many residents are in mourning cloth, while traditional warriors are sighted at most places in the Sunyani town.
Nana Aboaa Boahemaa, the Dwantuahemaa (appellate queen) of Sunyani Traditional Area told the GNA there would be procession of mourners on the principal streets of Sunyani at 1500 hours on Tuesday, and would be followed by performance of some traditional rites.
She explained that the Sunyani Traditional Council presided by its President Nana Bosoma Asor Nkrawri II, the Paramount Chief and chief mourner has imposed a ban on all commercial activities in the Municipality on Friday, February 28.
This implies all shops, particularly around the CBD and Victoria Park, would not operate.
Nana Boahemaa cautioned traders and residents to comply with the ban in order not be exposed to avoidable dangers.
Preparations, however, are on-going at the precinct of the ‘Boahen Korkor Fie’, the Sunyani new palace, located on the Atronie road at Asufufu, a suburb in Sunyani where the funeral rites would be held. Trees around the area have all been draped in red and black ribbons.